Volume 1
Written by Jamie Delano
Art by John Ridgeway and Alfredo Alcala
Paperback: 1563890526, $19.95

I admit I picked this one up because I really liked the movie. I’d been warned that the movie was nothing like the actual comic, but all the elements of the movie that I enjoyed most were present.

The art is dated and doesn’t add much, but the writing is amazing, especially in the middle story, a supernatural tale of war life and rural reality colliding most violently, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”. “Waiting for the Man” also features some very disturbing sections, but like the rest of this volume it’s full of loose ends and set ups for later plot lines.

A lot of the imagery in the movie did come straight from the comic, as did large portions of the plot. In fact, I have to wonder, other than the comic Constantine being blond and English rather than Keanu Reeves, what the complaint is. The same callous, ballsy Constantine finds himself dragged into paranormal threat after paranormal threat, often by a damsel in distress. While it’s made clear that he’s neutral and not on the side of heaven, hell or the ethereal, most of the plots in HellBlazer: Original Sins have Constantine coming up against the demonic side of things more than anything else.

It’s definitely a good read, filled with strong, emotional writing and gritty, interesting characters. But beware, this volume leaves off, literally, in the middle of a scene so you might want to buy volumes one and two together.